State Auditor Tim Keller announced Monday his office found what appears to be embezzlement of nearly $20,000 in public funds meant to go toward paying people with disabilities for training classes.

State Auditor Tim Keller

The Office of the State Auditor announced Monday in a press release that it found $18,225 in public funds went to the personal bank accounts belonging to the former program director of the Center for Self-Advocacy. The Center for Self-Advocacy is part of the New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC), a public entity.

Those with disabilities in the Center for Self-Advocacy program, called advocates, receive a $25 stipend to attend the training classes.

The state auditor’s investigation found the “Program Director created false DDPC advocate invoices for classes not attended by the advocates.” These payments did not go to the advocates; instead, they went to the former program director’s bank account.

The auditor referred the case to the Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg for possible prosecution for possible felony embezzlement.

“People with developmental disabilities and their families depend on the Development [sic] Disabilities Planning Council for vital services to improve quality of life,” Keller said in a statement. “It is unconscionable that any staff would apparently steal money from the disability programs they are charged with administrating. We appreciate the Council for bringing these concerns forward and for working to address oversight issues that came to light.”

The auditor’s office reviewed 468 checks from the DDPC after officials with the public entity approached Keller’s office with concerns over the Center for Self-Advocacy training payments. The auditor’s report found 208 of those 468 checks went to the former director’s personal bank accounts.

The risk review from the OSA says DDPC found out about the allegations from “an outside source” that a tax form was incorrect.

The state auditor also found several “internal control issues” with how the Center for Self-Advocacy ran the program. One was that the Center for Self-Advocacy Program Director can sign for advocates whose handwriting is illegible, but also counts the sign-in sheets for the advocates, submits the invoice for the advocate and distributes the funds to the advocate.

“This lack of segregation of duties created an environment susceptible to the theft of funds,” the report reads.

Also, the finance department “did not verify monthly invoices with class sign-in sheets” according to the report

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“[George Floyd’s] death has left us, in many ways, with rightful anger and grief.

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Public health orders restricting some businesses and public gatherings are slowly being lifted, but the New Mexico Supreme Court’s restrictions on eviction proceedings and limitations on civil cases in general are still in place.

Matthew Reichbach is the editor of the NM Political Report. The former founder and editor of the NM Telegram, Matthew was also a co-founder of New Mexico FBIHOP with his brother and one of the original hires at the groundbreaking website the New Mexico Independent. Matthew has covered events such as the Democratic National Convention and Netroots Nation and formerly published, “The Morning Word,” a daily political news summary for NM Telegram and the Santa Fe Reporter.